The present invention relates to a technology which is effective when applied to an I/O circuit of a semiconductor integrated circuit and further to the latching of a data signal in synchronization with a clock signal. For example, the present invention relates to a technology which is preferable and appropriate when used for a semiconductor integrated circuit for data processing such as a microcomputer or microprocessor having an interface with a memory card.
In recent years, a card-type memory device termed a memory card which is embedded with a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory capable of retaining stored data even when a power source voltage is shut off has been used widely as a data storage medium for a mobile electronic device such as a digital camera or mobile phone.
In response to the trend, a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) for data processing such as a microcomputer or microprocessor which is embedded with a memory card interface has been proposed to allow direct reading of data from the memory card.